Pillars of Eternity II - Turn-Based Review

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TurnBasedLovers reviewed Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire using turn-based mode.

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Like most things in PoE, combat is simple on the surface but has a lot of nuances. All characters move and act in their turn, but in addition to movement and one standard action (which is an attack, casting a spell or changing weapon in hands) there are also "free actions" that you can perform. Those include: changing of battle stance to trade, for example, attack stat for defense, buffing certain ability (can be performed once per battle), restoring HP (also once per battle).

Buffing or debuffing can be also done by spells or other class abilities. In terms of the game, it's called "Inspirations" and "Afflictions". They don't last long, unlike "Injuries" caused by critical hits and triggered traps, that persist until you rest and eat some food. Btw, certain food and places of rest also give "rest bonuses" that generally are active until the next rest. And in addition, there are a few "until rest" bonuses that you get after receiving some... ahem... "entertainment" in certain establishments.

There are actually quite a few parameters that can be affected by mentioned bonuses/penalties. There are four types of defense alone. And those just determine the probability of how different attacks hit, critically hit, graze or completely miss you. Only then armor/penetration rating come in play on how much damage you actually receive. And armor rating can also be different for different damage type.

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